The Druid Grove

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So I watched a documentary on YouTube called "Welcome to tge Reservation" with one of the most well known American Indian activists named Russell Means and in a nutshell it points out how the U.S. government basically created a holocaust but with Native Americans and how even Hitler praised the U.S. government for what they did to Native Americans.

The biggest thing that I got out of this documentary is that it seems like slowly but surely indigenous tribes throughout the Americas are dying out. It seems like(atleast from the research I've done) pretty much the same thing happened to the celtic tribes back when the Romans were invading the British Isles. I live in America so I dont know this for sure but it seems like most people in the British Isles have lost touch with tribal culture thats connected to the land. The culture that surrounds indigenous peoples in the Americas is based on the tribal land. I feel like thats one thing that druidry may be missing in the sense that the land connects and bonds people in a cultural and spiritual way. Today most Americans are caught up in the latest trends, trying to keep up with the Joneses and consumerism. In a way I am a little jealous of Native Americans because even though most of their land has been stolen from them and they have suffered great atrocities at the hands of the American government, they still have their own culture and their own language and their own beliefs that comes from each tribe.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it sucks that so much of what we know about druidry sadly only seems to come from the accounts that the Romans had with the druids and not nnecessarily orally passed down to each generation. I really hope that this doesn't happen with the Native Americans and I hope more and more tribes out there do the best they can to preserve their traditions so that generations hundreds of years from now can have more than just the accounts of the U.S. government to base their beliefs on.

Does anyone know if there are any druids that have written about this or if there are any druids that have expressed importance on a tribal system thats based on the connection to the land?

I hope that this thread doesnt send the wrong message and my intent was not to offend anyone. This is just one of the things I've been thinking about lately and I thought I would reach out and see if anyone else feels the same way.

TheMopPetal2 wrote: the U.S. government basically created a holocaust but with Native Americans ... It seems like (at least from the research I've done) pretty much the same thing happened to the celtic tribes back when the Romans were invading the British Isles.

I tend to favour the view that genetic evidence suggests that the “Celtic” tribes were not destroyed but interbred with the “Romans”, most of whom were not from Italy anyway. The Celts were a cultural rather than a racial grouping and it’s certainly appears that Roman culture was adopted by the ruling classes but I don’t think there was any holocaust.

TheMopPetal2 wrote: … it seems like most people in the British Isles have lost touch with tribal culture thats connected to the land. ... I feel like that’s one thing that druidry may be missing in the sense that the land connects and bonds people in a cultural and spiritual way. … Does anyone know if there are any druids that have written about this or if there are any druids that have expressed importance on a tribal system thats (sic) based on the connection to the land?

I don’t know about a “tribal system” but the druids that I am familiar with have the land at the centre of their spirituality. Here’s an extract from The Druid Network’s constitution (my emphasis):

2a) As an ancient pagan religion, Druidry is based on the reverential, sacred and honourable relationship between the people and the land. In its personal expression,modern Druidry is the spiritual interaction between an individual and the spirits of nature, including those of landscape and ancestry, together with the continuities of spiritual, literary and cultural heritage.
…
3) Those who practise Druidry do so through a deep spiritual connection perceived and experienced with this land and culture, either directly (as residents) or through links and empathies of ancestry, literature, art, history, heritage, philosophy and mythology.

TheMopPetal2 wrote: Today most Americans are caught up in the latest trends, trying to keep up with the Joneses and consumerism.

I know. Bugs me, too.

TheMopPetal2 wrote:
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it sucks that so much of what we know about druidry sadly only seems to come from the accounts that the Romans had with the druids and not nnecessarily orally passed down to each generation. I really hope that this doesn't happen with the Native Americans and I hope more and more tribes out there do the best they can to preserve their traditions so that generations hundreds of years from now can have more than just the accounts of the U.S. government to base their beliefs on.

I do think there's some danger of the native cultures of America being slowly forgotten. Life on the reservations vary from tribe to tribe. It seems while some tribes uphold their cultures, others don't, and their reserves end up being more like small towns. We've got a reserve about an hour from here; big consumerist area. Casino, and other places to blow money. Also, bloodlines don't always stay 'pure', and sometimes a person is forced to pick between their tribe and a loved one, rather than being able to participate in both lives(such as with mixed racial marriages). This can exclude them from their natural heritage. In trying to do some research on the tribes that were in my area, I found many had converted to Christianity.
I feel that the chance of survival of the stories/histories would improve if it were more readily taught(and not just among tribes, but to everyone). Growing up, I went to a school called 'Black Hawk' and I live in 'Black Hawk' county, but 'Black Hawk' himself was never discussed in school. I had to figure that out for myself(actually, Black Hawk himself was never even in this county). But, not everyone does. I wish our own land's history(and I mean land, not government)was taught in school. We were never taught what tribes were on our land. Major tribes were mentioned from time to time, and their lifestyles briefly covered, but the curriculum was made from headquarters far away, never tailored for individual places. We were never taught the myths of our lands, unless it was a presented as a children's book, to be read sometime in between Clifford and the Berenstein Bears.
I do think that time erodes just about everything, but hope that with information being recorded in various forms, in 1,000 years our ancestors won't have so many questions about us.

I can only speak for my tribe, the Choctaws. We'll never be the same people who were removed from Mississippi to Oklahoma in the 1830's. However, we are reviving a sense of what it means to be Choctaw in Oklahoma and in the modern world. The most recent statistical info I've seen is that we number around 200,000 strong. Many Choctaws in Oklahoma today are mixed race to some degree (intermarriage between groups has been going on for a long time) and most would consider themselves Christian.

Within my lifetime, I've seen the tribe begin a period of revitalization. We are extremely fortunate that 1) there are still a few elders who are fluent in the language and will teach the younger generations, 2) we live in an age where information sharing is relatively easy, and 3) there's fair amount of historical information available about the Choctaws. Nowadays, Choctaw language classes are offered in the classroom and online. Tribal members can keep connected through the Choctaw newspaper, the Biskinik, and via the web. There are opportunities to learn traditional crafts, foods, dances, stories and games, such as stickball. There's even an annual event called "Choctaw Days" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian where the culture is shared with visitors from around the world.

The modern connection to the land mostly has been with the tribe's new home in Oklahoma and not to the ancestral home in Mississippi. I wonder if this will change with the younger generations if the culture continues to revive.

Let us drink the Sun
and paint every tongue
with the light of Hosts
with honey.